B.B. King and Lucille in Tuscaloosa in 2003. (Photo by Michael E. Palmer)

It was a cold winter’s night in 1949 and B.B. King was playing a club in Twist, Arkansas. Two men began to fight over a woman and spilled a barrel of lighted kerosene used to heat the club. The flames spread and everyone headed for the door, including King. Once outside he realized his guitar, a Gibson L-30, was still inside. He ran into the rapidly burning wooden building and rescued the $30 guitar. King was lucky to survive the fire but two other men perished in the flames. The next day King learned the name of the lady the two men were fighting over. As a reminder never to do something so foolish as to run into a burning building or fight over women, King named his guitar after the woman- Lucille. King recounts the story in his song “Lucille.” Over the years King had many guitars named Lucille and in 1980 the Gibson Guitar Corporation built a guitar for King based on the Gibson ES-355 model that became the Lucille standard. In 2003 I photographed B.B. King playing that guitar at the now defunct City Fest in Tuscaloosa. It was pretty awe-inspiring to be in the presence of such talent and if you never had the opportunity to see him live, you can click on the Youtube link below and let the greatness wash over you.